I recall those days (about 1990) when the Dunoon Club had no premises of its own and the hall was used as a venue for a number of memorable dinner dances.The facilities were so primitive that we used bucket boiling water from the laundry boiler in one corner of the crowded kitchen to the single sink some metres away. The electrical circuitry was so inadequate that we could not use the hired Bain Marie and the amplifier at the same time. That would cause a fuse to blow. The hall committee at the time failed to see the need for urgent improvement in the kitchen despite the fact that LCC was building up the so called Section 92 fund. Every DA was subject to a levy to provide public amenities. I failed to see that a safe working kitchen in the public hall was not eminently eligible for a section 92 grant.
There had been a joint meeting between the executive of the Club and the Hall committee. It had been proposed that the Club assume responsibility for the Hall which could then be relocated on to the land that had been donated to the Club by Keith Balzer. The proposal was defeated. Personally I was relieved. I for one did not want the new club to be saddled with such an ageing building. Had the Club been really determined for the proposal to succeed, it would have been a simple matter to stack the Hall committee. Anyone could join by paying the nominal $2 membership fee.
Those days are well behind us and the Dunoon Village Hall has been dramatically improved in recent years. The present committee deserves the gratitude of the whole community although the hall no longer holds the same importance that the first hall assumed when it was built in 1900. At that time there was just one other building of a public nature in what we now call Dunoon. A Wesleyan Church had stood in splendid isolation up on the hill since 1889. There was no village then. The PO Store was not built till 1904. (The new PO now stands on the very spot.) The present General Store was not built till 1914. The Dunoon school was still standing just seven miles from Lismore near the site of the present Modanville school. It was moved the following year and stood for thirty years at a site opposite the current Nut Factory.
Where we see the village of Dunoon there were just a few farms in 1900. Donoghue owned the land on the east of the road. MacPherson owned the farm on the west. There was a roadway along the northern boundary of their farms. It crossed the “main” road and ran a long way in both directions but it seems that it was never really used. Parts of that roadway are still open, Cowley Road and parts of Munro and Fletcher Roads. Richard Bourke owned the land north of this roadway on the west of the main road which at that time was not clearly defined as it is now. He agreed to lease the SE corner of his farm for the hall.
The hall was built by public subscription. When the hall was burnt down on 3 October 1963, the task of raising funds to rebuild began immediately. A grant of $4000 was received from the Lands Dept towards the cost, but this was a small part of the total. The tender accepted was for $12,850 but additional costs of $295 were incurred to comply with alterations demanded by the Chief Secretary. Twenty guarantors were required for the bank loan to cover the balance. (I quote from p11 “the Dunoon Story” reprint 1982. I wonder were those amounts in dollars or in pounds!)
How did it come about that the land and the hall is now owned by the Crown and controlled by the Lands Department? It seems that the hall committee has been struggling on to maintain a tradition begun in 1900, but at some time the situation has changed dramatically without their awareness. It seems that nominations were called for trustees. None were forthcoming and the trusteeship of the sole remaining trustee has lapsed. Steps are being taken to regularise the situation. But the local community must show commitment to retaining this valuable community asset. The least we must do is to nominate trustees willing to accept responsibility. But we need to seek clarification of the duties and responsibilities to be assumed by these trustees.
Denis Matthews